Ease of use is an obvious reason why many people buy Apple computers. Macs have clearer, more intuitive options menus and even make the installation of programs simpler. However, options available for any given function on a Mac are often slimmer than the options available on a Windows machine. Windows, after all, has no qualms about openings its guts to its user – even when they don’t want to see them.

But what if you want to dive into the guts of your Mac? You should download Deeper, a program that lays bare a variety of settings on your Mac and lets you make OS X modifications with them in a relatively controlled environment. Let’s take a look at ten very cool things you can do with this program.

Animate Your Desktop Background

Turning on this option will display an animated desktop background that is constantly changing. Deeper comes with 13 animated background options including an RSS reader and a background that uses your iTunes album artwork.

You’ll need a relatively powerful Mac to use the feature without reducing performance noticeably, but this is a fun feature to use if you have a newer machine.

Alter Crashreporter

OS X includes a default crash reporter that displays whenever a program crashes and gives you the chance to re-launch the application. This function is considered the “Basic” Crash reporter.

Deeper lets you switch to using the Developer or Server modes. Developer mode shows a more detailed debug message that can aid in tracking down the reason why a crash occurred. Server, on the other hand, simply logs the crash report so that Crash reporter doesn’t interfere with whatever the system is doing.

Change Arrows In Scroll Bar

This may seem a little OCD, but the default locations of the arrow buttons in OS X bug me. I use a Windows machine as well, so the fact that OS X and Windows machines put the scroll arrows at different locations throws me off. With Deeper this is no longer problem. You can choose to put arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar like on a Windows machine, plus you can choose to put the Mac double-arrow at both the top and bottom of a scroll bar.

Fuss About Finder

Deeper offers a huge variety of options that let you change how Finder works. There are a few too many to discuss in detail in this article, but some of the more important ones include the ability to display hidden files and folders, show the item path in the window title, and show folder content previews.

You can also turn off some features, like the animated snap-to-grid and info effects that are used by Finder.

Limit Your Mac’s Functionality

Throughout Deeper there are a number of settings available that turn off critical parts of your Mac. You can disable the ability to shut down or restart a system using the Apple menu or Login window. You can disable the iTunes store. You can even limit the ability to make any OS X modifications to the dock.

The ability to limit these functions means that Deeper can be extremely useful if, for whatever reason, you’re worried that someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing might use your computer. Maybe a child wants to use your computer for a few minutes on a machine without a second user account set up, or maybe you want to safeguard your Mac against mischievous roommates while you leave the room. Either way, Deeper’s ability to limit functionality could be a lifesaver.

Now Deeper can come to your rescue. The General panel includes the option to change the format (10 additional formats are available including .BMP, .GIF and .PDF) and the option to change where the shots will be sent. Now you can take a lot of screenshots without cluttering up your desktop!

Modify The OS X Dock

By default the OS X Dock Supercharge Your Mac Dock With These 4 ToolsSupercharge Your Mac Dock With These 4 ToolsI'd be willing to bet that Dock is one of the many (and probably the first) thing a non-Mac user would find most fascinating on OS X.Read Moreis located at the bottom of your display and has a number of animated graphics effects. These effects look good, but may drain performance from older systems. Deeper will let you turn off 3D dock effects and the 3D dock itself. Instead, you can switch to a 2D version with a transparent background.

You can add things, as well – for example, you can add a mouse-over effect when you’re viewing a stack of items displayed as a grid.

Conclusion

Deeper is a great program that make its very easy to change your Mac’s settings. There is a lot of flexibility in it, and the fact that it lets you change not only critical Mac functions but also Safari, iTunes and Quicktime really makes it stand out.